Eagles sound poised to make big moves

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on June 13, 2011, 2:26 PM EDT

AP

Eagles owner Jeff Lurie was asked a question last week about how the Eagles would look in 2011. His answer to Ashley Fox of the Philadelphia Inquirer made it clear the team is geared up to make a splash when the lockout ends.

“We’re ready to roll when there’s a new league year, and we’re all very excited both about the opportunities for free agency and whatever other opportunities exist,” Lurie said. “We’ve been ready to roll for a while. We’ve got a great plan in place, and you never know what you can accomplish, but I know we’re going to be both aggressive and hopefully make the right decisions.

“It’s frustrating to be a team that’s poised to make some of the moves we want to make and not be able to. I think we’ll be very excited when the league year starts.”

You could take these as generic comments if you want. We tend to agree with Fox; they are a sign Lurie and company are ready to act bold when the league year starts.

Every team should be sending out reports that they will be “big players in free agency” when it opens up. If nothing else to drive up the price of these free agents for other teams who are actually interested. With so much time to plan and think about the FA market it should be easier to force other teams to outsmart themselves

jgrange says:Jun 13, 2011 2:58 PM

Philly doesn’t strike me as a team that goes out and pays above the market for a player like a CB so I think Asomugha is out of the picture for them.

melonnhead says:Jun 13, 2011 2:59 PM

Well they better do something, coaching clearly isn’t getting it done.

The Eagles are always in competition with the Phillies. The Phillies splashed with Cliff, the Eagles with splash with Asomugha. As soon as football is back they will try to make the Eagles philly’s top priority.

iggles57 says:Jun 13, 2011 3:25 PM

Lurie and Banner are more interested in cash in their pockets than rings on their fingers. Unless the attitude changes soon, no Super Bowl for the Birds. Kraft in New England, Rooney in Pittsburgh and even Jones in Dallas all have local ties to the teams they own and of course want to make a profit but also are fans of their teams. Lurie and his merrymen are not from the Delaware valley so do they really care?

tommynatorii says:Jun 13, 2011 3:33 PM

And my Dolphins are poised for another year of obscurity..

We'reFineThere says:Jun 13, 2011 3:39 PM

Iggles57, if I could thumbs down you 5 more times I would. I don’t understand why it is so hard to understand that Lurie isn’t cheap… Name one $ free agent the Eagles let go that wasn’t the right move. Just because the Eagles don’t sign the Chester Taylors of the world every year doesn’t make them cheap. The owner is not the problem…

The Eagles have the money to do it. They can get any player they want because they are a winning team that goes to the playoffs year in and year out. Free agents want to play for Andy Reid and be in the city of Philadelphia.

berniemadoffsides says:Jun 13, 2011 3:54 PM

As a Giants fan, I’m hoping they don’t sign Asomugha. I think other teams are more willing to give him bigger money anyway….

As a Redskins fan, I can say no team terrifies me more than the Eagles. They really are a few players away. A safety to go with Nate Allen. Maybe a backer and a corner, and they’re good to go. FML

deadmanwalking47 says:Jun 13, 2011 4:16 PM

different year,same ole iggles! no matter what they do they’ll choke like they always do,and all you iggle fans will be crying about how they got screwed by the league!why would anybody want to play in philly when all your iggles ever do,is choke,choke,choke?

schemefactory says:Jun 13, 2011 4:16 PM

i heard the vikings are readying for a big move, too.

melonnhead says:Jun 13, 2011 4:25 PM

@jgrange does asante samuel ring a bell? they are big players for people that they know will be big contributors for them, except for stacy andrews of course

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And Javon Kearse, and Donte Stallworth, and TO.

melonnhead says:Jun 13, 2011 4:27 PM

The Eagles have the money to do it. They can get any player they want because they are a winning team that goes to the playoffs year in and year out. Free agents want to play for Andy Reid and be in the city of Philadelphia.

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This has been “The Eagles Fan’s Daily Affirmation” with Stuart “eaglesfootballfan” Smalley.

The Eagles have the money to do it. They can get any player they want because they are a winning team that goes to the playoffs year in and year out. Free agents want to play for Andy Reid and be in the city of Philadelphia.

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This has been “The Eagles Fan’s Daily Affirmation” with Stuart “eaglesfootballfan” Smalley.

Actually Melonhead the Eagles have a ton of money, and that has nothing to do with winning it has to do with how they spend Vs. the cap.

The Eagles will be around 42 Million under the Cap and have more cap room open up when they let go of Akers 2.9-3.0 million projected with the transition tag, 2.6 Million with Weaver, and 6.7 Million once Kolb is gone. If you add those numbers to the projected 42 million they are now under the Cap it will end up around 51.5 million under the Cap. Now those numbers could be even more if say Patterson is actually a free agent and leaves because he makes 3.3 million. Anyway you cut it the Eagles have a Ton of cap room, some of this could change these are just projections we will have to wait and see what the actually Cap # are in the new CBA.

The reality is they could could not only go after ASO, but 2-3 other big name players as well. The speculation is that they are not even interested in ASO, but looking at a number of other players.

How many off season have superbowl champions made in the past few years. None!..Why would the eagles think adding big name free agents help them win more,it’s only gonna help them spend more. Once they start losing more games than they win. Once they trade Kolb, and Vick gets injured that is when the fans will see that the eagles shouldv’e never spent money in free agency. Ted Thompson and Robert Kraft both know that! All teams should follow in there footsteps!.

ICDogg says:Jun 13, 2011 5:29 PM

Joe Banner once infamously promised Eagles fans the “most exciting offseason ever”. I don’t remember anyone that the Eagles got that season. I concluded Banner’s definition of “exciting” probably included getting a new spreadsheet.

We always talk about the Eagles and they consistently under perform year in and year out.

tombrookshire says:Jun 13, 2011 6:01 PM

The gap between being given the green light to spend big by Lurie and Reid knowing who to spend big on is as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. Free agency isn’t exactly Andy’s specialty. Once again, Andy will buy himself a boatload of bargain basement injured free agents. Same principle as rich people shopping at Wal-Mart. The reason they have so much money is because they don’t spend it.

gbfanforever says:Jun 13, 2011 6:03 PM

Hey Jeff, did you watch the super bowl this year? Did you notice any big FA’s on either team playing in the game? I didn’t think so.

Jevon Kearse was a beast until he tore up his knee. TO was obviously a great player, until he went nuts. Asante has been great. Peters has been dominant at times. Weaver was great until he tore up his knee.

The Eagles have not been afraid to spend for top talent, and it has usually worked out pretty well.

The flip side is that they have rarely regretted letting any of their free agents go, with the possible exception of Dawkins, and they tried to keep him.

kevsright says:Jun 13, 2011 6:21 PM

Name one $ free agent the Eagles let go that wasn’t the right move
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Reggie White!

It doesn’t matter what the Eagles do they aren’t gonna win anything….Vick is gonna get injured around week 8 and if they still have Kolb everyone will see he is not all he is cracked up to be (I hope he goes to Seattle or AZ).

melonnhead says:Jun 13, 2011 6:58 PM

Actually Melonhead the Eagles have a ton of money, and that has nothing to do with winning it has to do with how they spend Vs. the cap.

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Well congratulations to the cap champs! Guess what… there was no salary cap in 2010. There’s STILL no salary cap and there may never be another OR it may be a completely different model.

melonnhead says:Jun 13, 2011 7:00 PM

BTW I love DAWK, but by the end of last season he was being burned all over the field. I will take Nate Allen, Kurt Coleman, and Jarrett all day long over that.

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Yeah he lost a step but he was the last true leader the Eagles had. You can’t measure the intangibles and they do matter.

melonnhead says:Jun 13, 2011 7:49 PM

Hey Jeff, did you watch the super bowl this year? Did you notice any big FA’s on either team playing in the game? I didn’t think so.

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Flozell Adams? Charles Woodson?

jgrange says:Jun 13, 2011 7:58 PM

melonnhead says:
Jun 13, 2011 4:25 PM

And Javon Kearse, and Donte Stallworth, and TO.

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Asante Samuel and Kearse are really the only ones that work here.

Donte Stallworth was still on his rookie contract when traded to the Eagles.

TO’s base salary was $600k his first year as an Eagle and his 2nd year salary would’ve been $4.5 million. He wasn’t close to the top 10 WRs in the league and his contract was heavily backloaded to avoid paying him when he got too old.

I guess they’re 50/50 then in terms of spending money, therefore, if they already broke the bank on Samuel then I still don’t see them doing it for Asomugha.

Also, Aso wants to go to a contender and the Eagles may be one of the best regular season teams year after year yet they continually lose in the playoffs and do not meet expectations quite regularly.

“TO was obviously a great player, until he went nuts. Asante has been great.”

TO was nuts when he got there. If you have any doubts, witness his exit from San Francisco. However, he played his guts out that first season in Philly and had mangement simply thrown him a bone by kicking in a bonus or maybe guaranteeing a year extra, the blowup may never have happened. As to Asante, he appears to have attended the “Deion Sanders School of Tackling”. Ole Asante.

fmwarner says:Jun 13, 2011 8:05 PM

janvanflac says: Jun 13, 2011 6:11 PM

Jevon Kearse was a beast until he tore up his knee. TO was obviously a great player, until he went nuts. Asante has been great. Peters has been dominant at times. Weaver was great until he tore up his knee.

The Eagles have not been afraid to spend for top talent, and it has usually worked out pretty well.

The flip side is that they have rarely regretted letting any of their free agents go, with the possible exception of Dawkins, and they tried to keep him.
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THANK YOU. I’m sick and tired of Eagles fans complaining that Lurie is only interested in making money, not winning. This is a false comparison…these are not two ends of a spectrum. If losing is so lucrative, why aren’t Ralph Wilson, Mike Brown and the Fords rolling in cash? Winning breeds interest, which breeds cash.

Besides all that, the correlation between free agent spending and winning is weak. The Eagles will dole out a big contract, but only sparingly and at positions their system values. Do you guys really want Lurie and Banner to emulate the Dan Snyder model?

hoochbcs says:Jun 13, 2011 8:07 PM

I wouldn’t call Flozell a big free agent..he was cut.

Woodson has been essentially the only significant FA the Pack has signed in the last five years.

kevsright says:Jun 13, 2011 8:35 PM

As to Asante, he appears to have attended the “Deion Sanders School of Tackling”. Ole Asante.
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A clever fellow Eagles fan calls Samuel “The Matador.” He wasn’t brought in for his tackling skills, he was for his interceptions. He’s done that pretty well.

Uh, do what? 1200 yards his first year in Philly in 14 games plus an outstanding Super Bowl performance. Almost 800 yards and 6 TDs in the 7 games he played the following year before everything went to hell. Throw in almost 4ooo yards and 38 TDs during his 3 seasons in Dallas plus an All Pro team appearance in both Philly and Dallas and you want to say he wasn’t “close to the top 10 WR’s in the league”?
Owens is an absolute nutcase. That can’t be debated. If you think that Owens wasn’t one of the top 10 WRs in the league when he was in his early 30’s, you might be a bigger nutcase. Hard to debate that one as well.

melonnhead says:Jun 14, 2011 12:59 PM

If losing is so lucrative, why aren’t Ralph Wilson, Mike Brown and the Fords rolling in cash?

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What makes you think that they’re not? Ralph Wilson and his buddies are not getting by on a middle-class sized chunk of change just because they don’t make as much as Jerry Jones.

melonnhead says:Jun 14, 2011 1:07 PM

I wouldn’t call Flozell a big free agent..he was cut.

Woodson has been essentially the only significant FA the Pack has signed in the last five years.